GIMP Version: 2.8.4
Operating System: Windows
GIMP Experience: Intermediate Level

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How do I get text to go along a path. Everything I have read says to do it through my text editor but mine doesn't have a text to path option.

right click on your text > alpha to selection. right click again > text to path, turn off selection (none), open your path dialog and you will see your path there. You can then select path to selection.

Why the "Alpha to selection" step? If your layer is a Text layer ("T" preview in the layers list) then it has a "Text to path" item in its right-click menu...

@jeanniem: the instructions you have date back to Gimp 2.6. The UI has changed a bit since, and "text-to-path" and "text-along-path" are in the right click menu of all text layers in the Layers list (even if they only apply to text layers, they don't really depend on the Text tool).

This might help too.

Text and Gradient Along Path

@ofnuts. On my text layer, I have to have a selection to get the text to path in my dialogue.

by K1TesseraEna...

Shouldn't your text layer look much like the text layer in the image below?
From your screenshot it looks your "text layer attributes" have been remove. So text to path wouldn't apply.

Thank you kit and Wallace... So once the text layer has been edited, you have to make a selection before you send to path if you want to stroke it with a path.

I believe that you're correct.
Once a text layer has been edited, you have to make a path form some kind of selection to be able to stroke the text along a path.

Wait a minute.... We are confusing issues here. There is 1) "text to path" where we obtain the outline of the text as a path, and 2) "text along path" where a path that is the outline of the text is distorted to follow a path.

For 1), if the text layer has become a plain bitmap layer, it is still possible to obtain an approximate outline path using "Layer/Transparency/Alpha to selection" on the layer and then "Select/To path". But it won't be as clean/sharp as the path obtained directly from a true text layer.

For 2) "Text along path" extracts the path from the text layer and then warps it to follow a path. But there is no standard tool to warp a random path (such as the one you can recover in 1)) along another path (there are scripts for this...)(*). However in this case if you still have the font re-creating the original text layer doesn't take long.

(*) at least the one I have on my disk

You're 100% correct.

The original posters question was "How do I get text to go along a path. Everything I have read says to do it through my text editor but mine doesn't have a text to path option."

Create a text layer.
Using the Paths Tool create your PATH you want your text to follow along.
Now select the TEXT layer and right click it. Select "TEXT along PATH"
The text layer can now be either made invisible or removed entirely.

This too is correct.

Well the original Topic is "Text to Path" which would make one assume you want the text outline as a path.
But then the post asks for "Text along Path" so i can see where one could get confuseled.

Yeah...